Brief report from Satuday's practice

[EastMemphisHog]

I was able to attend practice on Saturday, so I thought that I would share a few of my observations.

QB's
Austin is the clear #1. He looked very composed and accurate, but didn't take any shots downfield that I noticed.
Kelley was fantastic and is the clear #2. I watched individual drills and his agility isn't the best, but man can he throw the football. He had the big TD to Jordan Jones, but he also should have had another 25 yd TD to Martin. He made a perfect throw, but Nate Dalton made a fantastic play in the end zone to strip the ball away from Martin.
Storey is just not on the same level as Allen or Kelley. The arm strength is not there. He threw some short passes, but he was either overthrowing or throwing in the dirt on anything 10 yds +. He threw a ball 5 yards over the head  a wide-open receiver in the end zone, for what would've been a 25yd TD.


RB's
Rawleigh and Whaley both looked great. Whaley actually looks a little bigger, but has not lost a step. They were carrying defenders with them. The surprise here was Maleek Williams. This kid impressed the heck out of me. He reminds me of J-will with a little more shiftiness. He has fantastic vision and does not go down on first contact. Very excited to see how he progresses. He will play this year.


WR's
There are two things that you need to know
1) Jordan Jones is an absolute stud. He was the best player on the field from what I could tell. They could not cover him. He was open all day over the middle and made a few plays after the catch as well. He also had the long TD. His route running and ability to get separation were fantastic.
2) Brandon Martin is huge. Every bit of 6'4. He made a few plays and should have scored (Dalton's strip in the end zone). He blocks well and looks to be physical. Going to be a good target on the outside.

Cornelius looked decent, but I didn't notice any big plays. Again, the majority of the plays were short passes and running plays.
Hammonds is fast and was involved on a few misdirection plays. He dropped a few passes as well. We have to find a way to get him involved because he is so athletic, he just doesn't have the hands to be a go-to slot receiver right now.
Nance was on the field but I didn't notice any catches.
Did not notice Pettway
O'grady and Cantrell are beasts. Especially Cantrell.
Connor Mcpherson was heavily involved at WR and at RB. He is tiny, but does not play tiny. Very impressive young man.


Defense
Admittedly, I focused the majority of my attention in the offensive side of the ball, so I don't have a lot to offer on the defensive side.

DL
It looked to me like we played 4-3 for a good chunk of the scrimmage. We got decent pressure on the QB's. Watts and Jackson are huge and played that way too. I think Agim was injured at one point?

LB
Nothing stood out for me here, but I didn't pay that much attention. I'm kicking myself for not watching them, as this is going to be a big factor involved in the success of the team this year. We seemed to struggle tackling the RB's at the second level a bit, but were better in coverage.

DB's
The slant is still there all day long. Jordan Jones had his way with the defense, but they seemed to play well on most everyone else. Dalton and Ramirez stood out the most. They both looked the part and were very physical. Collins and Pulley played well. Also, Reid Miller got a lot of playing time at safety. I didn't see him involved in too many plays, but he looks very small out there. He seemed to fly around pretty well though.

[hawginbigd1]

Thanks for info, you may have meant Tolliver, Collins used all of his eligibility.

[jgphillips3]

Thanks for info, you may have meant Tolliver, Collins used all of his eligibility.

Or coley...

[solitons]

thanks

[Hawgar The Horrible]

I read elsewhere that the defense played in their base with no stunts or waggles. In my mind that means their aggressiveness was limited.

I don't agree with that philosophy at all.

[RME]

I read elsewhere that the defense played in their base with no stunts or waggles. In my mind that means their aggressiveness was limited.

I don't agree with that philosophy at all.

You missed a pretty key point from Clay Henry, then.


"I didn't see any movement in the fronts at any point in the scrimmage. Basically, the front three – ends McTelvin Agim and Karl Roesler and nose tackle Austin Capps – played straight on every play.

There was confirmation afterwards from Arkansas coach Bret Bielema. The base technique was the point of emphasis for the first six practices, the slants and stunts will be added in the next week.

"No movement so far," Bielema said. "We have asked our front three to just eat up linemen and keep our linebackers free. And, it's a different concept from what we've played. We have not moved them through today.

"That's going to change now. Next Saturday when you see it, it will be a different level up front."

[EastMemphisHog]

Apologies. Yes I meant to say Tolliver. The posts concerning the 3-4 are also correct. When they lined up in that front, there was no stunting. We had a very tough time stopping the run with this base, but that is to be expected at first I suppose.  Just to clarify on the QB's portion, it did still seem as though Storey was #2, at least as far as the snaps went. I would expect that to change.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

Apologies. Yes I meant to say Tolliver. The posts concerning the 3-4 are also correct. When they lined up in that front, there was no stunting. We had a very tough time stopping the run with this base, but that is to be expected at first I suppose.  Just to clarify on the QB's portion, it did still seem as though Storey was #2, at least as far as the snaps went. I would expect that to change.

A lot of not stopping the run had to be attributed to not being able to tackle below the waist, which aided Malleek Williams be able to "truck" Reid Miller, as mentioned in the presser. The defense played "straight up" and couldn't tackle below the waist, that always makes an Offense look better, especially in terms of running the ball.

[Big Nasty 34]

I read elsewhere that the defense played in their base with no stunts or waggles. In my mind that means their aggressiveness was limited.

I don't agree with that philosophy at all.

We've been playing the 3-4 for what, 2 weeks and you're already disgruntled because we don't have stunts and blitzes in?? It's a process, man. A different defensive philosophy will not be fully implemented in the second week of spring.

[Hoggish1]

Always nice to get a perspective on the day.  thanks.

[woodhog14]

I read elsewhere that the defense played in their base with no stunts or waggles. In my mind that means their aggressiveness was limited.

I don't agree with that philosophy at all.

Hard to play with stunts when they haven't installed them in the new defense yet.

Great post. SMH

[AlmaHog2011]

I read elsewhere that the defense played in their base with no stunts or waggles. In my mind that means their aggressiveness was limited.

I don't agree with that philosophy at all.

That's how we play defense under Beliema. Very basic so what you see is what probably will happen when the season begins.

[RME]

That's how we play defense under Beliema. Very basic so what you see is what probably will happen when the season begins.

Can you folks really not take the time to read through an 11-post thread? Or a couple WholeHog articles?

[ricepig]

Can you folks really not take the time to read through an 11-post thread? Or a couple WholeHog articles?

Comprehension is a lost art.....

[Boardon Hamsay]

I read elsewhere that the defense played in their base with no stunts or waggles. In my mind that means their aggressiveness was limited.

I don't agree with that philosophy at all.

Thus far, the stunts have been left to the stunt doubles. Next week, we'll be doing our own stunts.

[CFB_Fanatic]

So, same as last year basically. Defense struggles and the offense has just enough to keep us in games, but not to win them.

[ricepig]

So, same as last year basically. Defense struggles and the offense has just enough to keep us in games, but not to win them.

Yes, the first scrimmage with no tackling below the waist is the appropriate time to declare how the season will go.

[RME]

Yes, the first scrimmage with no tackling below the waist is the appropriate time to declare how the season will go.

You mean they have more practices and scrimmages to work on stuff before the first game?

I thought they were done...

[gchamblee]

That's how we play defense under Beliema. Very basic so what you see is what probably will happen when the season begins.

[factchecker]

So, same as last year basically. Defense struggles and the offense has just enough to keep us in games, but not to win them.

This is why spring practices and games should never be open.  Some fans will take the stats and twist them to fit their warped view.

Offense does great: "oh muh gawd...... dat damn berlema can't coach defense.  we gunna lose ever dam game dis season...... spit."

Defense does great: "did ya see dat cletus...... dat damn berlema is holding back Enos.  Houston Nutt 2.0....."

[hawg IQ]

I was able to attend practice on Saturday, so I thought that I would share a few of my observations.

QB's
Austin is the clear #1. He looked very composed and accurate, but didn't take any shots downfield that I noticed.
Kelley was fantastic and is the clear #2. I watched individual drills and his agility isn't the best, but man can he throw the football. He had the big TD to Jordan Jones, but he also should have had another 25 yd TD to Martin. He made a perfect throw, but Nate Dalton made a fantastic play in the end zone to strip the ball away from Martin.
Storey is just not on the same level as Allen or Kelley. The arm strength is not there. He threw some short passes, but he was either overthrowing or throwing in the dirt on anything 10 yds +. He threw a ball 5 yards over the head  a wide-open receiver in the end zone, for what would've been a 25yd TD.


RB's
Rawleigh and Whaley both looked great. Whaley actually looks a little bigger, but has not lost a step. They were carrying defenders with them. The surprise here was Maleek Williams. This kid impressed the heck out of me. He reminds me of J-will with a little more shiftiness. He has fantastic vision and does not go down on first contact. Very excited to see how he progresses. He will play this year.


WR's
There are two things that you need to know
1) Jordan Jones is an absolute stud. He was the best player on the field from what I could tell. They could not cover him. He was open all day over the middle and made a few plays after the catch as well. He also had the long TD. His route running and ability to get separation were fantastic.
2) Brandon Martin is huge. Every bit of 6'4. He made a few plays and should have scored (Dalton's strip in the end zone). He blocks well and looks to be physical. Going to be a good target on the outside.

Cornelius looked decent, but I didn't notice any big plays. Again, the majority of the plays were short passes and running plays.
Hammonds is fast and was involved on a few misdirection plays. He dropped a few passes as well. We have to find a way to get him involved because he is so athletic, he just doesn't have the hands to be a go-to slot receiver right now.
Nance was on the field but I didn't notice any catches.
Did not notice Pettway
O'grady and Cantrell are beasts. Especially Cantrell.
Connor Mcpherson was heavily involved at WR and at RB. He is tiny, but does not play tiny. Very impressive young man.


Defense
Admittedly, I focused the majority of my attention in the offensive side of the ball, so I don't have a lot to offer on the defensive side.

DL
It looked to me like we played 4-3 for a good chunk of the scrimmage. We got decent pressure on the QB's. Watts and Jackson are huge and played that way too. I think Agim was injured at one point?

LB
Nothing stood out for me here, but I didn't pay that much attention. I'm kicking myself for not watching them, as this is going to be a big factor involved in the success of the team this year. We seemed to struggle tackling the RB's at the second level a bit, but were better in coverage.

DB's
The slant is still there all day long. Jordan Jones had his way with the defense, but they seemed to play well on most everyone else. Dalton and Ramirez stood out the most. They both looked the part and were very physical. Collins and Pulley played well. Also, Reid Miller got a lot of playing time at safety. I didn't see him involved in too many plays, but he looks very small out there. He seemed to fly around pretty well though.

The one really disappointing comment you made about the defense was "the slant is still there all day long".   How many third down completions against the hogs last fall came via hitting the slant.

  Also not convinced the defense is really changing to a 3-4 ?  we are still practicing last falls losing scheme, even with Smith gone. Hog fans are ready for changes, no more ever blowing 25 point leads in the 2nd half. How many never want to see that again.  The most dis-hearting thing to we fans is to see that kind of a meltdown.

[CFB_Fanatic]

This is why spring practices and games should never be open.  Some fans will take the stats and twist them to fit their warped view.

Offense does great: "oh muh gawd...... dat damn berlema can't coach defense.  we gunna lose ever dam game dis season...... spit."

Defense does great: "did ya see dat cletus...... dat damn berlema is holding back Enos.  Houston Nutt 2.0....."

If that's the case, football games in the fall shouldn't be open either. That defensive showing last year was atrocious. But I'm sure installing a new scheme relying on new players will make us look like the 85 Bears....

Keep dreaming brah

[ThisTeetsTaken]

Who is Connor Mcpherson?

[010HogFan]

Who is Connor Mcpherson?

is he related to Conor McGregor?

[ricepig]

Who is Connor Mcpherson?

Walk on RB.